Judith Appiagyei - Marketing Assistant - DiGiCOR

The evolution of storage devices is impressive and one we believe is worth noting. Before SSDs came HDDs. HDDs are cheaper, provide more storage, and enable easier data recovery. However, the downside of HDDs is that it’s prone to damage due to moving parts. SSDs in contrast don’t contain any moving parts and are more reliable in extreme environments and in high or low temperatures. M.2 as we should highlight is plugged directly into the motherboard via a dedicated M.2 connector slot. M.2 delivers a range of benefits. For example, M.2 takes up far less space and uses less power than a standard SATA or Serial-Attached SCSI (SAS). HDDs, SDDs M.2 are all form factors. This means that how fast data is transferred depends on the interface utilized either via SATA, NVMe, etc. 

What is NVMe and why is it important?

NVMe stands for Non-Volatile Memory Express and is a communications interface and driver. NVMe defines a command set feature for PCIe-based SSDs and delivers increased efficient performance and interoperability on a broad range of enterprise and silent systems. Designed for SSD, NVMe communicates between the storage interface and the systems COU using high-speed PCIe sockets. NVMe is becoming the new industry standard for both servers in the data centre and in client devices such as laptops, desktop PCs, and even next-gen gaming consoles. This is because NVMe was designed specifically for SSDs.

NVMe technology is available in a number of form factors such as the PCIe card slot, M.2, and U.2. While there are SSDs that use the SATA, PCIe slot, and M.2 that are AHCI and not NVMe, U.2 is a form factor that exclusively uses the NVMe protocol. In addition, NVMe input/output operations per second (IOPS) exceed one million and are up to 900% faster compared to AHCI drives. NVMe also communicates directly with the system CPU, giving it incredible speeds due to its compatibility. NVMe drives work with all major operating systems regardless of form factor.

M.2 Form Factor, what is it?

M.2 is an SSD storage that provides a cleaner, less cluttered look. To experience up to 25x faster data transfer, M.2, must utilize NVMe protocol that draws on your motherboard’s PCIe interface rather than utilising SATA. 
The infographic below will help you understand how all of the different form factors and protocols are found in various types SSDs. This infographic also highlights the differences in performance.

SATA vs NVMe

NVMe draws on your motherboard’s PCIe interface to obtain noticeably faster data transfer. In contrast, SATA is a full serial advanced technology attachment. It is an interface used to connect drives to a computer's motherboard.